Sweet Water has today released their new album titled ‘Shine On’ via Golden City Records. Classic rock sounds meet guitar grunge meets pop hooks meets indie audacity all in one collective of tracks. Taking into account the length and survival of such an original act, the release of a diverse future classic is no surprise. The retro-sounding guitars are what really sold me. Univibe meets Marshall, chugging their way up and down each song, really feels like something to behold.
‘Shine On’ is a huge-sounding album. Musically and production-wise. This is what you want to hear at this moment in time. That magic moment when rock meets roll in a sonic marriage you can’t unhear.
In a world that is becoming more and more chaotic, it becomes more precious to the soul to find little gems like this. Music is an escape.
About Sweet Water & ‘Shine On’
‘Shine On’ marks a creative leap for the band, a project shaped by intentional risk-taking, collaborative growth, and new methods of songwriting and production.
“We decided to name the record Shine On because we thought it represented one of the core themes in the album,” says frontman Adam Czeisler. “The idea behind Shine On is that everyone has this powerful force…a small piece of what I call the divine inside them. Shine On is meant to be an encouragement that when things get bad and when they seem to be at their worst, remember you don’t need anyone or anything to be able to come out of that dark place. You only need to find the light within yourself and let it shine.”
“Each of us has our own challenges, trials, and tribulations – and through it all our light shines on – it’s about hope in the face of darkness,” adds guitarist Rich Credo.
Formed in the early ’90s and made up of Czeisler, Credo, bassist Cole Peterson, and drummer Chris Friel, Sweet Water has spent decades making music together, grounded in friendship and a shared love of rock and roll. “We love making music – and love the challenge to make art that reflects who we are and where we are,” says Rich. “I think the true strength of our band is our core friendship and its longevity,” adds Adam. “Rich, Cole, and I went to the same schools in both elementary and high school. Chris and Cole have known each other since they were kids.”
The seeds of Shine On were planted during the pandemic. “This idea of the album started during the pandemic when everyone was so isolated,” Adam recalls. “I think for me, I started observing things more clearly and my space in the world more deeply because of the isolation. We had several song ideas we had been playing around with before all the lockdowns, and once things opened up, Rich, our guitar player, said, ‘Let’s make a record,’ and he booked studio time at Studio Litho. We laid down basic tracks for these songs, and that was the beginning of the process.”
The band took a new approach to recording this time. “From the start, we had a very different mindset for making this record,” says Adam. “We wanted to be way more ambitious, take way more risks to try and stretch the songs beyond what we had done before, because ‘why not? If not now, then when?’ So we said to each other from the beginning we wouldn’t settle; we would keep trying different approaches with each song and not stop until we felt it was leaping off the track into our brains.” Phil Ek, who mixed the album, offered a note that stuck with them: “sometimes more is more.”
“Lots of acoustic and strings, more mindful songwriting, and Adam’s expert engineering make this record different,” adds Rich. “And each of us has personal struggles reflected in the lyrics. ‘Out of Control’ is a reflection on my recent divorce, and ‘Kick in the Head’ (by Cole) is about that universal angst that we all feel from time to time.”
Much of the album was recorded at Adam’s home studio, where the band explored broader instrumentation, including strings arranged by John Hage. “One of my favorite memories of the album is when we recorded the violin and cello for ‘State of Grace’ and ‘Shine On,'” says Adam. “It was surreal to have a string ensemble in my home studio with these two amazing musicians reading and playing from sheet music. If you’ve ever experienced being in a small room with a violin and cello being played, you know how intense and captivating it is.”
The album’s closing track, “Lush Trees,” reflects on science and connection through metaphor:
“And the thread that connects us
It’s not easily seen
We’ve had all the best minds inspect us
And they’re left wondering
How something so beautiful
Could come from something so plain?
Life is magical
And strange”
“I wrote this after learning from a friend, whose daughter worked at Moderna, that the first round of vaccine was created from a document that listed the genetic sequence of the virus, without an actual sample of the virus,” explains Adam. “This blew my mind because I realized how much the code of life, the DNA sequence of genes, mirrors software code. So the ‘thread that connects us’ is supposed to be the genetic code in all life, and there are only four letters in that alphabet, which is so ‘simple and plain,’ and yet it yields all of us humans and all the life on our planet. Crazy.”
The lead single “Kids,” released April 18th, has already resonated with listeners. “The reception of our first single, ‘Kids,’ is our most well-received single in years, and that feels good,” says Rich. The band has also released a video for the track.
The album’s lyrical themes revolve around connection and introspection. “Besides the theme [of] discovering the power within yourself, so you aren’t dependent on outside forces, there is a converse theme happening as well, which is about trying to experience true happiness by breaking out of the isolation of the self,” says Adam. “It is also about embracing the true mystery of life that no matter what anyone tries to tell you, has yet to be cracked.”
Adam also paid close attention to how the words matched the music on this album, something he hadn’t consciously focused on with prior albums.
“I paid a lot more attention to the lyrics in this record than I had before. Not only the meaning, but how it was delivered. The phrasing, rhythm of the words, and how they interact with the music are all so important, and while I’ve done all this intuitively in the past, this time it was much more intentional.” Songs like “Redemption” pushed vocal harmonies to new places. “My personal mark was beauty. I wanted the songs to be beautiful,” Adam says.
While some songs, like “Out of Control” and “Kick in the Head,” will translate directly to the stage, others may require a different approach. “Many of the songs on the album have a lot of guitar work, both acoustic and electric, and some have orchestral arrangements as well. This will be hard for us to pull off live without adding some more players,” admits Adam, when asked how the songs will translate to their live performances.
But, as always, the process of creating music itself remains the reward for Sweet Water. “Don’t let perfection be the enemy of artistic expression,” says Rich. “We just love playing live and making records. There is no better time than now to make music. [All we want with Shine On] is to have as many people as possible hear these songs – and have the chance to make more music.”
Sweet Water emerged from Seattle’s late-’80s punk and metal scene, originally known as SGM. By the early ’90s, the band had taken on the name Sweet Water and eventually released a string of albums, including 1993’s self-titled major label debut and 1995’s major label follow-up Superfriends, which spawned the 120 Minutes and modern rock radio regular, “Superstar.” After a hiatus in the early 2000s, the band returned with Clear the Tarmac in 2009, followed by two EPs – Dance Floor Kills (2013) and Firebird (2018). Shine On is their first full-length release in over a decade.
With new songs that explore the personal and the metaphysical, and a creative process that pushed the band into new territory, Shine On represents a new phase for Sweet Water, one that draws on their past without repeating it. Looking ahead, the band hopes to reach both long-time listeners and new audiences. “We hope people enjoy listening to this record as much as we enjoyed making it. Our fans have been incredibly supportive over the decades, so one of our goals was to deliver a record they love,” says Adam. “We also want to see if we can reach a new audience with this record, which is a hard thing to do, but we hope it’s possible.”
LINKS:
https://www.sweetwaterrocks.com/
https://www.facebook.com/adamcredocolechris
https://www.instagram.com/sweetwaterrocks
https://open.spotify.com/artist/3uYAclQ4ATiIMow9QAQAxw